Politics, philosophy, film, and other things…

The SNC-Lavalin Affair

I have been discussing American politics for so long
that it is easy to forget that I am Canadian. I did make a small reference to
the issue in my previous blog and introduced the subject of Treasury Board
Chair Jane Philpott’s resignation from the cabinet in solidarity with former
Attorney-General Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane’s loss of confidence in the way the government
had dealt with the criminal charges against SNC-Lavalin. In her letter of
resignation, Jane wrote, “Unfortunately, the evidence of efforts by politicians
and/or officials to pressure the former Attorney General to intervene in the
criminal case involving SNC-Lavalin, and the evidence as to the content of
those efforts raised serious concerns for me…The solemn principles at stake are
the independence and integrity of our justice system.” Note the evidence did
not lead her to draw conclusions, only raise concerns in her mind. So why did
she not wait until the Ethics Commissioner handed down a ruling or the Justice
Committee finished its hearings and possibly drew up a report?

I am currently mesmerized by the troubles Justin
Trudeau is in over the SNC-Lavalin Affair and need to write about that even
though many of my readers who are not Canadian may have only a marginal interest
in the current Canadian political crisis. And it is a crisis. But should it be?

It
is a crisis that should matter, not only to Canadians, but to the rest of the
world. After all, it begins with an issue of corruption in the private sector
of a Canadian company with a global reach. Perhaps, even more importantly at
this time, it is about the stability of a country currently led by a centrist
government that has been a target of disdain by Donald Trump, who launched a
trade war with America’s largest economic trading partner. And it is not just
about trade. For Americans who want to campaign in the next presidential
election over the issue of a single-payer system for health insurance, America’s
next-door neighbour offers an example of a polity where a charge of “socialism”
as a vicious epithet is difficult, though, unfortunately, far from impossible,
to use in characterizing Canada’s welfare state.

More
to the point, given the difficulties of Donald Trump over charges of
obstruction of justice, the centre of the crisis has shifted from the alleged
corruption of SNC-Lavalin to the issue of whether the Prime Minister and, or,
his staff in his office or the Privy Council brought untoward pressure on the
Attorney General in charge of deciding whether to go forward with the criminal
charges against SNC-Lavalin in a court of law. Americans may, probably very
justly, see the controversy in Canada over obstruction of justice as a dispute about
a few children playing in a sandbox since the offence, relative to the American
situation, is so marginal and the consequences so peripheral to core political
issues of international concern. But the issue is important and goes to the
heart of the institutions at the core of a democracy.

I choose to write on this
issue today instead of waiting to hear all the evidence when I could and will
make my mind up on the issue when I have much more information than the paltry
amount I have now. There is a parallel, and quieter, investigation by the
Parliamentary Ethics Commissioner into whether there was a breach of Section 9
of the Conflict of Interest Act prohibiting high-level government officials
seeking to influence the decisions of another official to improperly advance “a
person’s private interests.” Could the efforts of Prime Minister Trudeau or his
office be interpreted as efforts to advance the interests of SNC-Lavalin, its
executives and shareholders? I write now because I want to pre-empt hearing
some evidence. Gerry Butts, who three weeks earlier resigned as Trudeau’s chief
policy advisor precisely over this issue, is testifying before a House of
Commons Justice Committee today. I want to read his testimony in full
preparation mode. I also do not want his input to unduly influence me since, a)
he is my former graduate student and b) he has remained a personal friend.

I had already predicted
that the controversy would not go away simply because Gerry resigned. In fact,
the resignation, I believe, provided a dollop to help escalate the crisis. But
that is neither here nor there. What matters is getting a handle on the key issues.
I anticipate that, contrary to the prediction of much of the press, Gerry will
not provide a counter-narrative to that of former attorney general Jody
Wilson-Raybould. I believe that both Justin and Gerry respected Jody’s
abilities and her integrity too much for that. I note that, although
discussions and communications between Jody and the director of public
prosecutions remain confidential in accordance with standard practice, on 25
February Trudeau’s government issued an order-in-council to waive any claim for
solicitor-client privilege that limit what Jody could say or reveal about her
discussions with Trudeau and his office. However, though I do not believe Gerry
will contradict what Jody said, I believe he will provide a different
interpretation of the issue. I guess that his criticisms will be about
political smarts rather than integrity.

Sheila Copps, who is also
currently in Puerto Vallarta, argued that Justin should “lance the boil” and
kick both women out of caucus. They have damaged the party and the brand. Jody
claimed that she has not been free to speak whereas there has been no effort to
suppress her from speaking. Further, Copps noted, that on this issue, Jody made
it clear that she had made up her mind even before the PM spoke to her. Sheila
accused Jody of being unable to listen and insisted that Justin should act
tougher and more decisively. Chrystia Freeland, the outstanding Canadian
Finance Minister, has also weighed in defending Justin as both a boss and a
feminist.

This is very different
than the way much of the foreign press and some of the Canadian press have
dealt with the crisis. When I read the foreign press, particularly the American
press, I find it distressing that the issue is being treated as one about a
politician who is losing or who has lost his “star power.” Justin was the
young, energetic, untarnished representative of a new generation of politicians
driven by ideas and ideals. As The
Washington Post reported this morning, his “charmed” rise to power has been
lost. A key issue is not the loss of
Justin Trudeau’s sex appeal as a superstar politico in the political
entertainment industry.

But it is not just the foreign press. A headline on a
Neil Macdonald story read:

TRUDEAU’S VERBAL
PORRIDGE AND SERENE SMILE HAVE CARRIED HIM ALONG. UNTIL NOW

The
reality is that the shine has been off Justin’s star power for some time. Some
argue that the Indian trip and his family’s dress code did him in. Others trace
it to Justin and his family going on a very expensive holiday provided free by
the Aga Khan, who happened to be an old family friend. Still others trace his
fall from grace to his reneging on his electoral promise to reform the
first-past-the-post electoral system. Or was it the enormous sum the Trudeau
government paid to bail out and possibly build a pipeline that had questionable
prospects? Most egregiously, for others, Trudeau has joined his southern leader
in kowtowing to the Saudis while, at the same time, getting into a row with
China. Whatever the trigger, Justin’s entertainment value is not relevant.
However, the perception and the reality of him as a political leader are.

It
is not simply of importance to Canada. Democracy is under assault across the
world. Canada is a beacon of hope in this challenge to democracy. Further,
unlike many of its allies, most Canadians retain confidence that they have an
honest government, whatever the differences over policy. Thus, the SNC-Lavalin
affair is important, not only to Canadians but to the rest of the world.

Anyone
familiar with the theft of monies from the Libyan people during these years
will recognize this as a pittance. Years ago, inadvertently, I came across some
key information on the quest to recover the fifty to one hundred billion dollars
stolen in Libya and the location of those funds. I wrote up some of my findings
in an article. It appeared that Israel’s Mossad and some Israeli billionaires had
possibly played key roles in tracing down those funds and possibly sequestering
them.

Shortly
after my piece appeared, my computer seized up. I took it in to a service
person to unlock the computer so I could at least recover my information and
writings to transfer them to a new computer at the very least. I was told that
this would be impossible. The problem was not with the computer’s electronics,
but it appeared that someone had hacked into my computer and totally destroyed
everything on it, programs and writings. Absolutely nothing was recoverable. I
had no material to continue my series on locating the missing Libyan billions,
though my older articles and other material had been stored on an older computer
that I no longer used.

My
point is simple. The SNC-Lavalin corruption case is very important to Canadians
and to Canadian foreign policy promoting integrity in dealing with other
states, particularly developing states. But in the overall scheme of things,
the alleged corruption charges against SNC-Lavalin were not only small potatoes,
but did not even rise to the level of salt on those potatoes. Nevertheless,
like many such corruption issues, the after-effects in the political arena
emerge as far more significant.

The
case against SNC-Lavalin looked solid and, if convicted, SNC-Lavalin could be
banned from obtaining contracts for ten years. But the issue is not simply the
strength of a major Canadian business based in Quebec and its integrity, but
the integrity of the Canadian government and its failure to maintain a wall
between the influence of business and the integrity of the political process.

For
SNC-Lavalin had managed to get an amendment included in the Criminal Code in a
582-page omnibus budget bill in 2017 based on a promise by SNC-Lavalin to
reform and on the prospect of SNC-Lavalin’s plans to expand its Canadian
operation. SNC-Lavalin President and CEO, Neil Bruce, had lobbied the Canadian
government and sent a letter to Public Services
Minister Carla Qualtrough
to that
effect to change its anti-corruption rules “as expeditiously as possible” so SNC-Lavalin
could avoid prosecution by creating a plea-bargain alternative, known as a
deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) between the government and a corporation
which had demonstrated that it had reformed after a record of corrupt behaviour.
SNC-Lavalin, he claimed, was now a leader in exemplary ethical conduct and had
forfeited a great deal of business abroad to avoid improper conduct. Those
changes in Canadian law would, purportedly, align Canadian laws with those of
the U.S., Britain and France and allow SNC-Lavalin to operate on a level
playing field.

The
actual detailed changes to the “integrity regime” have still not been published,
but the issue remained whether individuals and firms committing economic
offences – bribery and fraud – should be spared criminal charges in order to “reduce
the negative consequences of the wrongdoing for persons — employees, customers,
pensioners and others (there are 9,000 in Canada, mostly in Quebec) — who
did not engage in the wrongdoing.” The Criminal Code specifically excludes
using nation-state economic interests or inter-state foreign relations as a
reason for the application of a DPA.

Jody
claimed that, in one conversation with the PM, and in others with various
officials, including 11 from the PMO, the
Privy Council Office and the office of the Minister of Finance (Trudeau’s chief of staff Katie Telford,
his then-principal secretary Butts, PMO staffers Mathieu Bouchard and
Elder Marques, Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Morneau’s chief of staff Ben Chin
and Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick), she had
been subjected to “a consistent and
sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically
interfere in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in my role as
the Attorney General of Canada in an inappropriate effort to secure a deferred
prosecution agreement (DPA) with SNC-Lavalin.” Sheila Copps in her
interview on “As It Happens” on CBC quipped, if 11 discussions and 7 emails
constitute pressure, Jody has no idea what pressure is. Sheila, when she was in
cabinet, but especially when she was Deputy Prime-Minister, on any single issue
was subject to hundreds, even thousands, of communications. She wondered aloud,
what if the jobs of 9,000 First Nations people had been at stake. On the other
hand, was Trudeau being a structural racist when he first offered Jody the
responsibility for Indigenous Services? Jody declined (according to Butts,
unprecedented) because she had spent her life fighting the Indian Act and could
not in good conscience administer it.

The Attorney General in the Canadian government has an independent, non-partisan role, especially in the
oversight of federal prosecutions. Jody
claimed that in one conversation with the PM on 17 September 2018, the PM told
her he needed a solution to the problem since many jobs would be lost without a
DPA, that the company threatened to move out of Montreal and possibly Canada, and
that an election was on the horizon, but denied he was pressuring her and
insisted only that he was merely searching for a solution to the problem.

Jody
insisted in turn that she had done her due
diligence and made up her mind, as Copps noted, even before discussing the
issue with the PM or cabinet. She was not going to interfere with the decision
of the director even though, under Section 10 of the DPP Act, the AG is
permitted to issue directives “on the initiation or conduct of any specific
prosecution.” Further, Jody insisted, the only relevant factor was the
criminality of the accused, even though the DPA specifically made provision for
settling a case out of court. She, as minister, could neither be nor be seen to
be responding to political pressure. The problem remained – when do advice and
information and exchanges of views amount to pressure and even a direction?

Justin specifically denied any direction. Gerry even denied
that any pressure had been applied. Trudeau had insisted that, in the end, the
decision was hers to make alone. Most importantly, Jody herself stated that
nothing that had transpired had been illegal.

What we do know for sure is that in October 2018, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada made a determination that SNC-Lavalin had not met the criteria for a DPA. Jody refused to intervene in that decision, though she could have issued a direction in writing to be posted in the Canadian Gazette. The issue was not that she could not intervene, but that she would not. On 7 January 2019, Jody was demoted and moved to another more junior ministry, Minister of Veterans Affairs, and expressed the belief that this had taken place because she had refused to issue a DPA for SNC-Lavalin.

The
crisis unfolds. Questions to keep in mind:

Should Jody have threatened to resign if the attempt to “pressure”
on her did not desist?

Should she have resigned
rather than accept a demotion?

Should and will Trudeau
exclude her from the Liberal caucus?

Why are Jody and Jane dealing
with this matter as if it is central to the integrity of government?

Whatever the factors, has
Trudeau demonstrated incompetence in managing his own ministers and his House
of Commons colleagues?

What does the crisis say about
recruiting two very accomplished and committed women and promoting them to
cabinet when they lacked any deep roots in the Liberal party and in the
day-to-day requirements of compromise needed for effective governing?

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One comment on “The SNC-Lavalin Affair”

With apologies Howard i cannot resist venting about Jody to you. 1. why did she not complain in september and october 2. why did she object to consulting with Iacobucci given the deferral was new untried legislation 3. why did she not announce when she made her decision about SNCL to her colleagues – 4. why did she insist on drafting legislation that excluded advanced directives for medically assisted dying, in spite of the facts that the Supreme Court decision did not exclude that and that all her cabinet were in favour of allowing it. Perhaps she saw herself as ruler of all. 5. why did she refuse to let the PMO see letters of reference from judges and lawyers re potential judge appointments – always done before

My opinion: people with no parliamentary experience, no ministerial experience who are Vancouver lawyers may not know how to be a minister. Especially when they refer to MY TRUTH rather than THE Best available version of the truth. Wonderful critique of her incomplete testimony in the business section of the Star yesterday on the last page, not the front – read while waiting to the ARCTIC a fabulous film which you must see. I am also very concerned that everyone likes cutting down tall poppies. The news is extremely biased – two attacks on Metro morning today, most people know nothing about advanced directives which particularly angers me. I find that her staying in the Liberal party is totally malicious. She destroys it and stays knowing that if turfed out, everyone will sympathize with her. Enough..